Yes, Keaton Was Great, But Keaton Didn't Make "The Circus"

Note: I sent this letter to Roger Ebert in response to his Great Movies essay about Charlie Chaplin's "The Circus" (1928). It has since been published in the "Letters" section of rogerebert.com. To see it on Ebert's own site is much more glorious, but here is the letter in full anyway.

From Rollan Schott in Lincoln, Neb. 

This is reactionary, vitriolic, and probably ill-advised. Please forgive me.

I was thrilled to find Chaplin’s “The Circus” added to your Great Movies canon. I think it’s one of his best (certainly better than “The Great Dictator”, but that’s an argument for another day). Having previously read your comprehensive column on “The Works of Buster Keaton”, I assumed that a similar piece on the works of his mustached rival master had not yet been written, and would not be written, because A) Chaplin’s films are more lovingly restored and much more readily available as independent works, and B) Every film Chaplin made between “The Kid” and “Modern Times” (as well as “Monsieur Verdoux”) is worthy of its own essay, an astonishing run that combined universal box office success and acclaim with enduring artistic achievement like nobody before or since. Most of Keaton’s works are also worthy if individual recognition, though I think we’d agree his are more of a whole.